Composing machine



Oct. 13, 1970 s. a. TlBBLlNG COMPOSING MACHINE I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMay 2'7 1968 INVENTOR TIG .TIBBLING BY B Mai ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1970 s.B. TIBBLING 3,534,394

COMPOSING MACHINE Filed May 27, 1968 .5 Sheets-Sheet 2 F l G 2 BUTTERGR..%.... 2?. .39. v PA'M" THICK P IE goua Ls glguslr 9 2 M. I g I 25g yms PlE U U El 345 E] U 13 CAL PRO'II CALC. IRON V.A THIA VIITC RIBOCARBQ, FATS INVENTOR.

sm BQTmBuNQ ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1970 s, TIBBLING 3,534,394

CQMPOS ING MACHINE Filed May 2'7, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

sne axmsunci ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,534,394 COMPOSING MACHINEStig Berthold Tibbling, Hollywood, Fla., assignor, by mesne assignments,to Stig Compugraph Inc., Boston, Mass., a corporation of MassachusettsFiled May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,121 Int. Cl. G06k 7/00 U.S. Cl. 23561.611 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for indicating andstoring the sum of a plurality of data when the data itself isdetermined by mechanically performing an arithmetic equation physicallydetermined by indicia in each of a plurality of tabulating type cards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is an improvement in the artof arithmetic composing machines and in particular to simple mechanicalmultipliers having a range of product outputs when the multiplyingfunction is determined by indica in a tabulating type card.

It is known that the same result can be achieved with existing computersbut the present invention is a far sim ler solution to the problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A deck of tabulating type cards are provided inwhich unique to each card separate indicia is provided for each of twoelements of an arithmetic equation. A card carriage is provided tosupport the cards one at a time and to transport them from an inactiveposition (for insertion) to an active position (for reading). A firstmechanical arithmetic device is provided which has selectively one of arange of ratios of output. The particular ratio is selected by sensingone of the indicia in the card as it is moved into its active position.A second arithmetic device is operatively connected to the first deviceto drive the same. The degree of drive is responsive to an inputselected from the second indicia on the card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the mechanism,shown in perspective, as it is related to one column of a punchedtabulating card.

FIG. 2 is a section view of a portion of the multiplier unit.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view-in perspectiveof a friction disc and support.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing two tabulating cards.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings acomposing mechanism comprises a cog belt 2 having preferably a decorated(colored) outer surface 4 and an inner surface providing cog teeth 5 inthe form of a flexible rack 6. The belt 2 is mounted for guided movementrelative to an indicating scale 8 to indicate values.

Rack 6 is mounted for engagement with a sprocket 10 which is fixed forcoaxial angular movement with a face gear 12. The face gear 12 andsprocket 10 are freely rotatable as a unit about a shaft 14 which merelysupports them for rotation. The face gear 12 engages a pinion 16 whichis positively connected to a shaft 18 which carries at its opposite enda roller 20. Roller 20 has a central aperture or keyway which is axiallymovable along splines 22 carried by shaft 18. Roller 20 preferablycarries a rubber rim 24.

3,534,394 Patented Oct. 13, 1970 Multiplier unit A mechanism is providedfor axially moving roller 20 along the splines 22 of shaft 18. Thismechanism comprises a carriage 28 which is supported for axial movementon a square or splined shaft 30. The carriage 28 has fingers 29 forguiding and positioning roller 20 along the splines 22 of shaft 18. Oncepositioned by the fingers 29, roller 20 can rotate freely relative tothe fingers.

Carriage 28 is provided with a sensing finger or probe 32 which as shownin FIG. 1 is engageable with a hole 34 punched in a tabulating card 36.In its normal or rest position carriage 28 is pulled by spring 38 backagainst a stop 40. It should be noted that the square shaft or spline 30is mounted for pivotal motion about its own axis in response to themovement of a crank arm 42, which is mounted for engagement with a cam44. Cam 44 is mounted to be rocked through an are from a releaseposition, downwardly to an engaged position. It follows that by rockingthe cam 44 from its release position as shown in FIG. 1 to the engagedposition the cam will rotate the crank arm 42 to pivot shaft 30 aboutits axis and consequently rotate carriage 28 counterclockwise as viewedfrom the crank arm 42 end of shaft 30. It is signi ficant to recognizethat carriage 28 is normally biased clockwise by spring 43 to urgeroller 20 into engagement with a friction disc 46.

Actually the carriage fingers 29 as shown in FIG. 2 provide bearings 48for housing stub shafts 50 of roller 20 for rotation. Roller 20 isfreely rotatable in the bearings 48 of fingers 29 while being directlyconnected by means of spline 22 to the shaft 18. When carriage 28 isrotated to its counterclockwise position (as viewed from crank 42 end ofshaft 30) roller 20 is disengaged from the friction disc 46 andtherefore carriage 28 is freely movable along shaft 30 to carry roller20 along spline 22. This freedom of motion permits the carriage 28 to bemoved axially of shaft 30 in response to the engagement of sensing probe32 with a hole 34 in the tabulating card 36. Carriage 28 normally isbiased to a rest position against stop 40. A tabulating card carriage 37is provided to support card 36 and to transport it from an inactive tothe active position shown in FIG. 1. Carriage 37 is provided with aprobe slot 39, permitting probe 32 to sense a hole 34 in card 36. Itfollows that during movement of the card carriage 37 towards the activeposition shown in FIG. 1, probe 32 enters hole 34, whereupon furtheradvancement of the card carriage drives carriage 28 away from its stop40. These parts actually form the multiplier unit and theinterrelationship of these parts is prearranged to provide a selectedratio of multiplication, i.e., the axial rotation of the roller 20relative to the angular rotation of the friction disc 46 increases withthe displacement of the roller 20 from the' center of the friction disc46. This displacement in turn is controlled by the interengagement oftabulating card hole 34 and sensing probe 32.

Multiplicand unit Once the multiplier function has been set then themultiplicand input is added to the mechanism. The multiplicand inputcontrols the angular rotation of the friction disc 46.

It is apparent that for some sets of circumstances there must be a zeromultiplication factor and therefore the roller 20 must be engageableexactly at the center of the friction disc 46. It follows therefore thatfriction disc 46 cannot be centrally or axially supportedparticularly ifboth sides of the friction disc are to be employed for multiplicationunits.

To effect this relationship between friction disc 46 and roller 20 andyet support friction disc 46 for angular motion the following mechanismis provided (FIG. 3). The

friction disc 46 has little axial length. Actually it comprises acircular plastic disc 52 having circular discs of sandpaper '4 cementedto each lateral surface. The periphery of disc 52 is equipped with gearteeth 56. The disc 46 is supported for rotation in a plate 58 which hasan aperture 59 slightly larger than the outside diameter of the gearteeth 56. The disc 46 is limited in axial movement by two plates 62- 64which are connected to plate 58 to sandwich the disc 46 between them.Furthermore, each plate 62-64 carries a slot 66 to expose a portion ofthe abrasive surface 54. The slot 66 exposes a diametrical section ofdisc 46 and it is large enough to permit roller 20 to extend through itto engage the surface 54 and long enough to permit roller 20 to be movedwith carriage 28 and engage disc 54 at any selected ratio position.

Plate 58 is provided with a clearance opening 65 and side plates 62-64are provided with hearing 66 to support a necked pinion 68 for freerotation relative to the plates. The pinion 68 is mounted for engagementwith the teeth 56 of disc 46 (FIG. 1). Pinion 68 is equipped with asquare or splined center 70 through which a square or splined shaft 72is passed to drive the pinion, i.e., as shaft 72 is rotated, pinion 68rotates to drive gear teeth 56. The square shaft 72 carries at one end apinion 74 which is also fixed for rotation with the shaft 72. Pinion 74is mounted for engagement with a thumb Wheel 76 which includes gearteeth for driving pinion 74. It follows that rotation of the thumb wheelacting through pinion 74, shaft 72, pinion 68 will drive the frictiondisc 46 through some angular motion.

Provision must now be made for indicating the amount of rotation of thethumb wheel from a home position to a measured position depending uponthe number of units of input that are selected. To accomplish this, apinion 78 is supported on the shaft 72 in engagement with an idler gear80 which in turn is supported on a crank arm 82 which in turn is mountedfor pivotal movement about the shaft 72. In one of its positions thegear 80 drives a pinion 84 supported for rotation with a shaft 86. It issignificant at this point to note that the crank arm 82 is normallybiased out of engagement with the pinion 84 by means of a spring 88. Amechanism is provided, however, for advancing the crank arm to mesh thegear 80 with pinion 84. Specifically, the mesh takes place when the cardcarriage is moved to its operating position. This not shown but anysimple mechanical mechanism operative as the carriage is moved from arest to an operating position will suffice. Actually the carriage maysimply push the crank arm 82 into engagement with the pinion 84.

Shaft 86 carries a helical groove 90 which engages a follower 92 thatcarries an indicating pointer 94. Follower 92 is restrained from rotarymotion but moves axially in response to the rotation of shaft 86 tocarry the pointer 94 along'n predetermined path. A torsion spring 96 isconnected to shaft 84 tending to bias the same to a rest or inoperativeposition wherein carrier 92 is against the stop 98. It follows that whencrank arm 82 is rotated to release gear 80 from mesh with pinion 84 thetorsion spring 96 operates to unwind shaft 86 and thereby drive carrier92 up against stop 98.

The multiplicand scale is shown on the tabulating card itself. Actuallythe length of each multiplicand scale is identical but the length issubdivided into units that are substantially unique to each card for thesimple purpose of providing practical ranges: e.g. one card may have asits multiplicand scale slices of pie measured in /s of a pie, whileanother may have as its multiplicand scale pats of butter. There neednot be any correlation between the scales of any two cards, but it mustbe remembered that the card itself is a functioning part of themechanismi.e., it physically determines the multiplier ratio and thenpro vides the scale for setting the selected multiplicand.

For practical comprehension of this invention, reference is made to thecomposing by adding the arithmetic products of the component content ofa number of foods which arithmetic product is produced by multiplyingthe number 4 of portion sizes of a food by the number of units of a foodcomponent in a portion size.

In the operation of the mechanism described, a person first selects acard representing the food he wishes to use. The card is placed on thecard carriage 37 which is then moved from its rest to its operativeposition shown in FIG. 1. In so doing the probe 32 will sense the hole34 in the card 36 and advance the carriage 28 to a position which isresponsive to the location of the hole 34 in the card. The carriage 28is then released so the wheel 20 engages the friction disc 46 throughthe aperture 66 in plate 62. The multiplier ratio for that ingredient ofthe sel cted food is then set. It will be noted again that while themechanism has been described for only one ingredient of a selected food,actually the mechanism is repeated for each measured ingredient of thefood, but while each ingredient may set up a different ratio in itsrespective multiplier systems, the units of measure in the multiplicandsystem are common to them all.

Once the multiplication factor has been set as described in the aboveparagraphs the thumb wheel 76 is turned to advance the quantityindicator pointer 94 to the number of ounces or grams of the foodintended to be recorded. The movement of the thimb wheel acting throughthe pinion 74 and shaft 72 drives the pinion 68 and through teeth 56 thedisc '46. The wheel 20 rotates in response to the angular motion of disc46 to drive shaft 18 which through pinion 16 drives the face gear 12 andaccordingly pinion 10 through some angular motion. Pinion 10 drives theoutput belt 2 along the scale 8 so that the outer surface 4 of the beltwill indicate the number of units of the selected ingredient of the foodrepresented by card 36.

It is important to note that, after the information in card 36 has beenrecorded, the release of card carriage 37 releases crank arm 82 topermit shaft 86 to spin free thereby returning follower 92 to its homeposition against stop 98. However the information from card 36 remainsin the indicating mechanism including scale 8. Then when a second card36 is inserted in to the machine, the information in card 36 is added tothe information already stored through card 36.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form construction andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention or sacrificing all its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A multiplying device comprising in combination a mechanicalmultiplier having means responsive to being driven through units ofinput for generating selectively in response thereto one of a range ofoutputs,

a plurality of tabulating type cards each having unique multiplier ratioindicia and a graduated scale representing units of multiplicand input,

a card carriage for supporting said cards one at a time,

means mounting said carriage for movement at will between an inactiveand an active position,

a device for sensing the multiplier ratio indicia in a card mounted onsaid carriage,

means interconnecting said sensing device with said carriage and saidmultiplier unit for selecting the output of said multiplier in responseto the sensing of said multiplier ratio indicia as said card carriage ismoved from its inactive to its active position,

a multiplicand device having an indicator movable across themultiplicand scale of a card mounted on said carriage when said cardcarriage is in its active position,

and means interconnecting the multiplicand device with said multiplierfor driving the latter through the multiples of units of input indicatedon said multiplicand scale.

2. The mechanism of claim 1 in combination with an indicating scale, anindicator associated therewith and movable relative thereto, and meansinterconnecting said multiplier output with said indicator for advancingsaid indicator to an indicating position on said scale to record andstore a value representative of the multiplier output.

3. The mechanism of claim 2 wherein said indicator is a tape in the formof a flexible cog belt and said multiplier output has a gear meshed withthe cogs of said belt for driving the same to an indicating position.

4. A composing machine into which a pre-determined number of a group ofpunched cards may be inserted, one at a time for the purpose ofaccumulating and indicating arithmetic information, a plurality of cardseach having indicia for directing separately each of two elements of anarithmetic equation, a card carriage, including a device for holdingsaid cards one at a time, means for supporting said carriage formovement selectively from an inactive to an active position, anarithmetic mechanism capable when driven of generating a ratio outputconditioned by the selection of one of a number of corresponding ratiofactors, means conditioned by one of the indicia in said card andresponsive to its movement with said carriage from the inactive to theactive position for selecting and setting the ratio factor in saidarithmetic mechanism, a second mechanism operatively connected to saidarithmetic mechanism for driving the same, means proportioning thedegree of output of said arithmetic mechanism to the movement of saidsecond mechanism to a setting representative of any one of a number ofsettings indicated by the other indicia on the same punched card.

5. A composing machine into which a pre-determined number of a group ofpunched cards are inserted, one at a time, for the purpose ofaccumulating and indicating arithemtic product information comprising incombination a plurality of tabulating type cards each having uniquemultiplier ratio indicia and a graduated scale representing units ofmultiplicand input, a card carriage including a device for holding saidcards one at a time, means for supporting said carriage for movementselectively from an inactive to an active position, an arithmeticalmultiplying mechanism capable when driven of generating a ratio outputconditioned by the selection of one of a number of corresponding ratiofactors, means conditioned by indicia in a said card and responsive toits movement with said carriage from the inactive to the active positionfor selecting and setting the ratio factor in said arithmeticmultiplying mechanism, a multiplicand mechanism operatively connected tosaid multiplying mechanism for driving the same as the multiplicandmechanism is moved to a setting representative of any one of a number ofmultiplicands indicated on the graduated scale of said card carried bysaid carriage, an indicating scale, an indicator associated therewithand movable relative thereto, and means responsive to the generatedproduct information for advancing said indicator to an indicatingposition on said scale to record and store the arithmetic product of amultiplier and a multiplicand determined by indicia on said card.

6. The mechanism of claim 5 including means retaining said indicator inthe advanced position generated by the indicia in a first card after thelatter has been moved with card carriage to its inactive position andthen being movable to a second postion in response to generated productinformation from a second card to compose the information from bothcards.

7. A composing machine into which a predetermined number of a group ofpunched cards are inserted, one at a time, for the purpose ofaccumulating and indicating arithmetic product information comprising incombination a plurality of tabulating type cards each having uniquemultiplier ratio indicia and a graduated scale representing units ofmultiplicand input, a card carriage including a device for holding saidcards one at a time, means for supporting said carriage for movementselectively from an inactive to an active position, means restrictinginsertion of a card on said carriage to its inactive position, anarithmetical multiplying mechanism capable when driven of generatingproduct information, means in said arithmetic multiplying mechanism forvarying the ratio of product output in response to the selection one ata time of one of a plurality of correlated ratio factors, meansconditioned by multiplier ratio indicia in said punched card andresponsive to its movement with said carriage from the inactive to theactive position for selecting and setting the ratio factor in saidmultiplying mechanism, a multiplicand mechanism operatively connected tosaid multiplying mechanism for driving the same, means proportioning thedegree of product output to the movement of the multiplicand to asetting representative of any one of a number of multiplicands indicatedon said punched card, an indicating scale, an indicator associatedtherewith and movable relative thereto, and means responsive to thisproduct generated information for advancing said indicator to anindicating position on said scale to record and store the arithmeticproduct information.

8. A composing machine into which a predetermined number of a group ofcards are inserted, one at a time for the purpose of accumulating andindicating arithmetic information comprising in combination a pluralityof cards each having first and second indicia for directing separatelyeach of two elements of an arithmetic equation, a card carriageincluding a device for holding said cards one at a time, means forsupporting said carriage for movement selectively from an inactive to anactive position, a first arithmetic mechanism capable when driven ofgenerating an output conditioned by the selection of any one of a rangeof ratio factors, means conditioned by first indicia in said card andresponsive to its movement with said carriage from the inactive to theactive position for selecting and setting the ratio factor in said firstarithmetic mechanism, a second arithmetic mechanism operativelyconnected to said first arithmetic mechanism, and means proportioningthe degree of output of said first arithmetic mechanism to a setting ofsaid second one representative of second indicia in said card, anindicating scale, an indicator associated therewith and movable relativethereto, and means responsive to the output of the first arithmeticmechanism for advancing said indicator to an indicating position.

9. A composing machine into which a predetermined number of a group ofpunched cards are inserted, one at a time for the purpose ofaccumulating and indicating arithmetic product information comprising incombination, a plurality of tabulating type cards each having uniquemultiplier ratio indicia and a graduated scale representing units ofmultiplicard input, a card carriage including a device for holding saidpunched cards one at a time, means for supporting said carriage formovement selectively from an inactive to an active position including adevice for releasably detaining said carriage in either of saidpositions, a mechanical arithmetic multiplying mechanism capable whendriven of generating product information, adjustable means for varyingthe rate of multiplication of said multiplying mechanism through apredetermined range to generate a product output, means conditioned bymultiplier ratio indicia in said card and responsive to its movementwith said carriage from the inactive to the active position forselecting and setting the ratio factor in said multiplying mechanism, amultiplicand mechanism operatively connected to said multiplyingmechanism for driving the same, means proportioning the degree ofproduct output to the movement of the multiplicand to a settingrepresentative of any one of a number of units of multiplicand inputindicated on the same card, an indicating scale, an indicator associatedtherewith and movable relative thereto, and means responsive to theproduct output for advancing said indicator to an indicating position onsaid scale to record and store the arithmetic information product of amultiplier and a multiplicand determined by indicia on said card, meansretaining said indicator in advanced position generated by the indiciain a first card after the latter has been moved with card carriage toits inactive position with said indicator then being movable to a secondposition in response to product output from a second card to cornposethe information from both cards.

10. A composing machine into which a predetermined number of a group ofpunched cards are inserted, one at a time for the purpose ofaccumulating and indicating arithmetic product information responsive toconditioned indicia contained in said cards comprising in combination aplurality of tabulating type cards each having unique multiplier ratioindicia and a graduated scale representing units of multiplicand input,a card carriage including a device for holding said cards one at a time,means for supporting said carriage for movement selectively from aninactive to an active position, a mechanical arithmetic multiplyingmechanism capable when driven of generating product information,adjustable means for varying the rate of multiplication of saidmultiplying mechanism through a predetermined range to generate aproduct output, means conditioned by multiplier ratio indicia in a cardand responsive to its movement with said carriage from the inactive tothe active position for selecting and setting the ratio factor in saidarithmetic multiplying mechanism, a multiplicand mechanism operativelyconnected to said multiplying mechanism for driving the same, meansproportioning the degree of product output of said multiplier mechanismto the movement of the multiplicand to a setting representative of anyone of a number of multiplicands indicated on the same card supported bysaid carriage, an indicating scale, an indicating tape movable relativeto the scale, and positive drive means including cogs in the tape itselfresponsive to the product output of said multiplying unit for advancingsaid tape to an indicating position.

11. The mechanism of claim 10 including means retaining said indicatingtape in its advanced position while sad first card is removed from themechanism while permitting said product generated information from asecond card to advance said indicating tape to a new position to composethe information from both cards.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,933,714 11/1933 Cunningham235-61.6

MAYNARD R. WILBUR, Primary Examiner T. J. SLOYAN, Assistant Examiner

